Spiralling
by The Sound Of Thunder
Summary: Tenten may just love him. But does he love her back? And, whats this? Tenten's on a mission and has to pretend to be a couple with Kiba? Neji doesn't seem too happy... HIATUS
1. Unbeatable

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and all that Jazz.**

**AN: Thanks to everyone that reviewed! I promised a re-write ages ago, so this is long overdue -. R&R and enjoy the new version of Spiralling!**

For what seemed the tenth time that day, Tenten lay quite unceremoniously on the dusty ground, staring up at the emotionless face of Hyuuga Neji. She hated this, really she despised it. Ever since Lee, Neji and herself had been placed on the same genin team, she had never been able to beat him sparring, and now after eight years of convincing herself that if she trained hard enough, if she pushed herself enough she would be able to beat him she had come to the conclusion that she just couldn't.

Sure, Naruto had beaten him in the chunnin exams six and a half years ago, but unlike Naruto, Tenten didn't have endless reserves of chakra. In fact she was really quite mediocre at the whole 'chakra' thing altogether. Weapons. That was Tenten's speciality, she loved every single one of her weapons. From kunai to senbon and shuriken she could use all of them perfectly, but this meant nothing when she was sparring against Neji. Every single sharp object that she flung at him with her perfect aim, he repelled with his stupid Byakugan. It made the usually cheerful Tenten quite angry. Really it did.

With what small dignity she had left, Tenten, yet again, slowly dragged herself to her feet, but instead of stepping into her fighting stance as she had been doing for the past three hours, she sighed and walked, in pain, to the gates of the training grounds.

"Tenten" Neji's voice sounded right behind her. "Where are you going? We are nowhere near to the end of training."

Tenten gritted her teeth. "I am going home. While _you_ may not be finished _I_ am."

Tenten could almost feel Neji smirk.

"Then you'll definitely have no chance of beating me. You don't want to get even _weaker _do you?"

Right that was the _last_ straw, she turned to the pompous, arrogant, egotistical jerk known primarily as Neji Hyuuga, and glared as hard as she could.

"Don't you think I _know _that?" Tenten hissed at him in a dangerously low voice. "Don't you think I _know_ I'm weaker than you and your stupid Byakugan? Have you ever thought for even _one_ minute about how it feels to know that no matter how hard you train you'll not even come _close_ to beating the famous Hyuuga prodigy? No, you _haven't_! You haven't because you are the most selfish, arrogant, egotistical, self centred jerk I have ever had the misfortune to meet!" And with that Tenten stalked out of the training grounds, leaving a very confused Byakugan user in her wake.

* * *

As soon as Tenten reached her apartment she slammed the front door as hard as she could, ran to her room, lay on her bed and cried. It was the first time she had cried in about three years. She hated the feeling of all this hopelessness wash over her. Why of why couldn't she have been born with a Bloodline Limit like the Byakugan? she thought bitterly. She hated being so mediocre, sure she had been promoted to Chuunin, but it was likely that she was going to stay a Chuunin for the rest of her ninja life. Neji had already made it to Jonin, and that made Tenten feel even worse, if that was possible. Hell, it was likely that even Lee would make it to Jonin before her, and Tenten wasn't sure how she was going to handle that one when it came along.

Tenten was interrupted from her self-hating by a knock at the door. Vigorously wiping her eyes, trying to rid her face of any signs of tears she half walked half jogged to the entrance of her flat.

She was suprised to see Ino there.

"Ino!" Tenten greeted, smiling "I thought you were away on a mission for the next two days!"

Ino grinned back "Nah, we managed to complete it in a week. It was pretty simple." she said, stepping around Tenten and swiftly plopping down on the couch.

Tenten chuckled, and followed Ino to the couch, shutting the door behind her.

"So Tenten," Ino said" I'm here to invite you to my graduation party-"

"Oh God!" Tenten exclaimed. "You made it to Jonin!?"

Ino nodded smugly. "Yeah, I beat Sakura by three points!"

Tenten chuckled and caught her friend in an embrace. "Congratulations!"

Ino began giggling and returned the hug. "So, are you coming?"

"I'm there!" Tenten said enthusiastically "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Yes." Was Ino's swift reply."I've had to put up with Shika-kun's cooking for three days, I definately deserve a break. Can we invite Forehead and Hinata?"

Tenten nodded and handed the cordless phone to the blonde kunoichi. Since when had Shikamaru become Shika-kun? She mused to herself.

* * *

Half an hour later found the four friends clustered around Tenten's glass coffee table in various positions, pigging out on a take out from Ichiraku's.

"Okay!" Ino began, waving the rest of the girls silent. "I have an announcement to make!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes sensei?"

"Shut it! I'm serious!" Ino threw a noodle in Sakura's direction.

"Ew!" Sakura exclaimed as it hit her on her slightly large forehead. "Gross!"

"Anyway, as I was saying." Ino sent a glare in Sakura's direction. "Something important happened on my last mission."

Everyone's attention was on Ino now.

"Shika-kun and I got together."

"WHAT!?" Sakura and Tenten screeched simultainiously.

Ino grinned.

"C-congratulations Ino-chan." Hinata gave a small smile.

"What? When? _How?_!" Sakura gaped.

Ino gave a tinkling laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know!"

Sakura opened and closed her mouth, apparantly speechless. Tenten snorted. She looked like a fish.

"Don't be mean!" Sakura pouted. "I thought we were best friends?"

Ino shook her head. "Fine, fine , calm down Forehead girl!We are! Well, Shika-kun and I were star gazing on the last night of the mission, and he just leaned over and kissed me!"

"How r-romantic!" Hinata sighed. "Under the s-stars!"

Sakura sighed aswell. " So romantic..."

Tenten shoved Ino "Lucky!"

Ino laughed again. "It would have been perfect, only after he kissed me I said : Hey Shikamaru, does this mean you like me then? "

Sakura nodded.

"And he goes, I though it would have been obvious, Troublesome woman!" Ino shook her head.

Sakura burst into laughter.

Hinata gave a cute giggle. "T-thats just l-like Shikamaru-kun."

Tenten wiped her streaming eyes. "In all seriousness though, Ino, your really lucky to have him."

Ino shot her a quizzical look. "What's brought this on? Have you finally admitted to yourself that you are madly in love with Neji Hyuuga, but are so very depressed as you can never be together 'cause he has some secret marrige to his cousin?"

Everyone stared at Ino.

"Wouldn't that mean he'd have to marry Hinata?" Sakura asked, the laughter just barely concealed.

Hinata paled and Ino looked slightly disgusted.

Tenten sighed and slugged Ino in the arm. " You are officially _insane._"

"Ow!" Ino rubbed her arm. " Don't _hit _me! I bruise easily! And why am I so insane? You never know!"

Tenten shook her head. "Reason one, I have never, never will and _don't _have a crush on Neji. Reason two, I actually have reason to believe he has no emotions. Reason three, secret marriges only happen in TV programs and reason four you can never trust the judjement of a girl that hasn't noticed she has noodles in her hair."

Everyone cracked up. Even Hinata was laughing hysterically.

"Wha-?" Ino clutched frantically at her hair.

"SAKURA!"

**Here we come to the end of our newly rewritten first chapter! Please leave me some feedback, and I should be updating in the next hour or so!**

**Ja ne!**

**Natalie-chan**


	2. Invitation

**Disclaimer: again, don't own Naruto blah blah blah...**

**AN: Okay, here's the second rewritten chapter, I hope you enjoyed the last one . You may notice its different to the last version, but the plot is generally the same, I've just made the chapters longer and I might continue it from where I left off last time.**

**Okay read & review please, and enjoy :**

At around half seven, it fell dark and Ino announced she was going to go and visit her parents before it grew too late. She got to her feet and slyly kicked Sakura before making her way to the door. The remaining three of them watched in amusement from Tenten's window as the blonde kunoichi walked down the street, subtly checking her hair for more noodles.

* * *

Ino reached the end of Tenten's road and turned the corner, Sakura was the first one to come away from the window, she began to pick up the take out boxes and leftover food. 

"Want to watch a movie?" Tenten asked the other two, as she disposed of some of the food Hinata had just handed her.

"S-sure" Came the reply from Hinata. Sakura nodded.

They finished clearing up the mess, and a small argument ensued about what to watch.

"But we watched that last time!" Sakura whined as Tenten held up Kill Bill.

Tenten sighed in defeat. "Fine we'll watch Chicago then."

Sakura grinned , shoved her favorite musical into the DVD player and pushed play.

* * *

It was ten-ish when Chicago finished. 

Tenten yawned and stretched. Her tiredness was no doubt partially due the hammering she'd received by Neji that morning. As soon as she thought of Neji, anger began to chorus through her blood again. Tenten didn't know why, but she didn't feel too enthusiastic about being alone all night.

"Hey ,you guys wanna sleep here tonight?" Tenten rubbed her eyes, aware her friends must be feeling drowsy as well now.

Sakura declined. " I have to work early tomorrow, Tsunade-shishou wants me to try a new method."

"No problem, Hinata?"

"H-hai, Tenten-chan." Hinata said.

Tenten's spirits lifted. She had always been closer to Hinata than she was to Ino and Sakura. Ino and Sakura were quite loud, and that sometimes annoyed Tenten if she wasn't feeling her best. There were just some things she wouldn't feel entirely comfortable telling those two , that she knew she could always tell Hinata.

"Tenten?"

Tenten looked up at the sound of her name. "Sorry, I didn't catch that Sakura-chan."

Sakura sighed. " I said I'm going now, Do you want to come to Ichiraku with Hinata, Me and maybe Ino after I finish work tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll see you there at around five then?"

Sakura nodded. "See ya!"

* * *

Hinata joined Tenten in the bathroom clad in borrowed pyjama's. 

"S-sorry for having t-to ask Tenten-chan" Hinata stuttered. "But c-could I borrow a toothbrush?"

Tenten spat the last bit of foam from her mouth and rinsed her green toothbrush under the cold tap. "Of course. There's no need to apologize! Get one from the spare packet in the cabinet."

Hinata thanked her and selected a purple one from the medicine cupboard.

* * *

Tenten lay staring up at her pastel blue bedroom ceiling, waiting for Hinata to finish brushing her teeth. 

"Tenten-chan?"

Hinata's soft voice startled her. Tenten sat up and looked at Hinata perched on the corner of her bed. "Yeah?"

"Has N-Neji-niisan done something to upset y-you?"

Tenten frowned, was it that obvious? "You could say that."

"Oh." Came Hinata's voice again. "I k-know its not my p-place to say, but Neji-niisan thinks v-very highly of you."

_Oh he did , did he_? Tenten thought to herself. _If he did then why did he constantly ignore and insult her? _Tenten sighed and rolled over. She wasn't going to waste anymore of her precious sleeping time thinking about the cold hearted Hyuuga.

"Well he sure has a funny way of showing it." Came her grunted reply.

Hinata looked sadly at the back of her best friend. Neji and Tenten were just as oblivious to their emotions as each other. If they both got over their pride and looked deep inside themselves, Hinata thought, the two of them would realize that something had been staring both of them in the faces for a long time. Hinata sighed. She only hoped they'd realize before it was too late.

**Okay, here's the second rewritten chapter. Please review, they make me all warm and fuzzy inside, and when I feel that, I update faster hint hint. Push the lavender colored button!**

**Ja Ne!**

**Natalie-chan**


	3. Sparring

**Thank you if you reviewed It means a lot to me. Here we go:**

The bright 7 AM sunshine filtered through Tenten's blinds and hit the sleeping kunoichi straight in the face. Tenten groaned and rolled over.

After five minutes of refusing to accept she was well and truly awake, Tenten forced herself from underneath her cozy bedclothes and onto the cool mahogany floor of her room.

She stretched , realizing that Hinata was not still asleep. She groaned again. God that girl woke up early. Tenten slowly made her way into the bathroom, and slithered into the shower.

Yes. Tenten was _not_ a morning person.

* * *

Half an hour later Tenten made her way into the kitchen slightly more refreshed, but still tired, to find Hinata washing up her breakfast plates. 

"M-Morning, Tenten-chan." Hinata greeted her cheerfully. "I left you some breakfast."

"Thanks Hinata." Tenten said, stifling a yawn. She plonked herself down in front of the French toast and began to eat, not really tasting it, just shoving it down her throat in the hope that it would wake her up even more.

Tenten finished, washed up her plate and turned to Hinata." Fancy some early morning training?"

Hinata smiled " Sure T-Tenten-chan. Are you g-going to put your hair up?"

Tenten stood confused for a moment before realizing that she hadn't put her hair up into its usual buns after drying it. Tenten rummaged in the pockets of her black cargo pants and pulled out a well worn hair tie. She couldn't be bothered to put it into buns, so Tenten quickly scraped her chocolate colored locks into a high, messy ponytail.

Hinata looked at her approvingly. "It s-suits you Tenten-chan."

Tenten smiled and headed for the door.

* * *

Neji watched in interest. He was watching his cousin spar with Tenten from a perch in a tree overlooking the training grounds. It had taken him several moments to realize it was Tenten. Instead of her usual bun's he had grown accustomed to, her hair was now up in a high ponytail. It suited her, Neji thought, She looked...pretty... 

Hinata and Tenten's kunai met with a clash that rang all over the almost-empty grounds. Tenten somersaulted back wards, pulling eight senbon from her weapons pouch as she went, flinging the in quick succession. Hinata managed to deflect five of them with her kunai.

"Ah!" Hinata dropped to her knees in pain as four sharp senbon pierced her left arm. Tenten's aim was definitely something.

Tenten dropped her kunai she had held ready and rushed over to her friend. "Oh God! Hinata I'm so sorry!"

Hinata managed to give a small giggle. She quickly reached to wards the needles embedded in her flesh and ripped them out, grimacing.

"J-just give me a minute T-tenten-chan, I'll heal this up." Hinata retreated to the edge of the sparring field.

* * *

"Hn" 

Tenten whipped around and almost groaned. The person she wanted to see least at the moment stood about seven feet away from her.

"Yes Neji?" Tenten inquired icily.

Neji was quite taken aback at the coldness in his teammates voice.

"Spar with me." It wasn't a question.

Tenten gave him a frosty smile. "Fine"

_This is going to be interesting_. Tenten thought to herself.

**Thanks for reading everybody Please leave a review to let me know what you think **

**Ja ne!**

**Natalie-chan**


	4. Tangled

**Hey, sorry to everyone that I confused last chapter thanks to -Completely-Clueless- , catilena1890 and antropomoprhichybrid for pointing it out.**  
**No this story is not complete, I'm rewriting it and I forgot to change the status... Sorry! Anyway, here's the new chapter :**

* * *

Tenten landed after executing a complicated scroll summon. She quickly caught her breath and glanced up, hoping to see that just one of her projectiles had hit its mark. 

Neji stood twelve feet away from her, smirking, he had yet _again _repelled all of her accurately aimed weapons with his stupid Kaiten. Tenten felt the familiar coil of anger rage up from her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to wipe the infuriating smirk off Neji's face.

Tenten tried to swallow her irritation, and expertly produced three shadow clones.

Neji continued smirking. This trick was so old, Tenten must have used it against him at least fifty times in training already. Two of her shadow clones would attempt to distract him by attacking him from the front, while Tenten and the remaining clone would try to sneak up on him.

The clones charged at him, kunai's glinting in hand. Without further ado, Neji spun round and hit out at all of the Tenten's.

Three of them disappeared with a poof, Neji gave another irritating smirk and walked over to the real Tenten, deactivating his Byakugan as he went. Or so he thought.

* * *

"Gotcha." Tenten whispered pressing a kunai to his neck. 

'Tenten' poofed into a log. For some strange reason, Neji was smirking. Tenten was too happy to notice, however._ I've done it! _She thought gleefully to herself ._I've finally beaten him-_

Tenten's inner celebrations were cut short as Neji knocked her arm away from his neck, and jabbed a kunai into her back.

"I believe _I _have _you_." Neji said smugly.

Tenten started, tried to back away, tripped over her own feet, began to fall and grabbed the closest thing to stop her descent. That thing just happened to be Neji.

Not ready for the sudden movement, Neji lost his balance and the two teammates collapsed in a tangled heap.

* * *

"Neji! You hair's in my _mouth." _Tenten snapped, opening her eyes. _Oh Kami_, Tenten thought. Neji's face was mere centimeters from her own.All she had to do was move he head slightly up wards and... She felt the heat rise to her face, and she was sure Neji's pale skin had a slight pink tinge to it. Tenten had the overwhelming urge to reach up and brush Neji's cheek. Her head spun, her heart rate increased and... _He's your __**teammate**_ Tenten scolded herself. 

They stayed like this for a good five minutes, both too embarrassed to move, before:

"Tente- O-oh..." Came Hinata's small voice. Their moment was over.

Tenten's eyes grew wide as she realized what this looked like, and she was sure that she now resembled a tomato.

Neji moved so quickly, Tenten's brain didn't really register he was no longer on top of her. Even more embarrassed, she dragged herself to her feet, wishing she could just crawl into a hole and die.

"You've gotten better." Neji spoke, his fleeting show of emotions now apparently gone.

Tenten looked up in surprise. _Neji thought...? _But the Hyuuga prodigy was already gone, walking to wards the trees, probably to continue his training.

**Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but my internet keeps going on and off, so I want to post this in case it goes off and doesn't come back on. I should be posting tomorrow or whenever my internet gets fixed. Leave a review**

**Ja ne!**


	5. Mission

**AN: Christmas has been awesome for me! I got a new laptop from my parents and some pretty decent hair straighteners. Hope you all had a good one! Again thanks for all your reviews! Have a cookie!**

Tenten sighed, and continued staring out into the serene night sky. She wished that her relationship with Neji could be so much simpler. She had been out here ,on top of her apartment building, just thinking for the best part of three hours.

She had mused her connection to the Hyuuga prodigy over and over, and from her rambling thoughts from the best part of the night, she had deduced that she just didn't _get_ Neji. He was miles above her, and every time she lost a spar against him, she subconsciously saw the loss as a gap of ability widening between them. She felt like she was losing him. At any rate, if she was losing him, she was losing him slowly and this made it all the more worse in Tenten's eyes.

Tenten smiled to herself. Maybe that was why she craved his approval so much. She knew she had feelings for him, but her feelings ran much deeper than just a crush. She wanted to be by his side all the time, to protect him, to care for him, to be _worthy _of him.

Tenten shivered as the cruel breeze cut through her thin silk pajamas. Maybe, just maybe if she bettered him just once, he would notice her. Notice her like she wanted to be noticed by the stoic Hyuuga.

* * *

Tenten's night-time escapade onto the roof in the name of thinking, left her, at AM, with two hours sleep and a very cranky demeanor. 

Her eyes tied and heavy, Tenten forced herself into the shower, hoping that the warm water would wake her up some.

"Damn Neji" Tenten could be heard muttering as she forced a quick breakfast of cornflakes down her throat before exiting her apartment and heading to wards Team Gai's training grounds.

* * *

Tenten winced and massaged her arm that had just had all of the chakra points sealed by Neji. 

"Here" Neji's voice startled her.

Tenten felt Neji gently begin to restore the flow of chakra to her poor arm.

The contact of skin resulted in the steady ride of heat to Tenten's cheeks.

Neji raised an eyebrow "Tenten, are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." Tenten flushed even more.

"Good, you nearly beat me last time. Make this one count..."

Tenten sighed and nodded.

* * *

Tenten didn't beat Neji sparring. She came a little closer though, and it was satisfying to know, albeit a small portion at a time, that her hard work was actually paying off. 

Tenten smiled to herself and carried on walking. She was heading for the Hyuuga compound. She felt she owed Hinata a visit.

She loved this part of Konoha. You could tell just by the streets that it was the upmarket area. Only the richest and most prestigious clans and families lived here. They weren't houses here. No, they were small villages in which separate clans resided. The 'houses' were all old fashioned and traditional. Tenten loved that.

Where she lived it was all high rise apartments. It was a lovely sight at night, when it was all lit up, but sometimes she got sick of not being able to see the horizon.

* * *

"The gardens are so beautiful. Your so lucky to live here Hinata." Tenten sighed wistfully, turning away from Hinata's bedroom window. 

"T-things have been much easier since father started taking an interest in my missions."Hinata smiled softly at the older kunoichi.

Tenten smiled back. "I'm glad"

Hinata sipped at her tea. "A-and how are things going with you and Neji-niisan?"

Tenten eyed her friend warily. _Just exactly where was this going?_

"You mean?"

Hinata gave a small giggle. "You k-know what I mean."

She knew exactly what Hinata was talking about. Tenten fiddling with her nails. She didn;t know if she had the courage to say it aloud. "Um. Hinata...I've been thinking..."

"A-about what?"

"Neji...and I" The brown haired female almost whispered the last word.

"I think I..."

"I think.."

"I _love him." _Tenten whispered.

Hinata smiled.

"But... how can I ever expect him to reciprocate it? Why would he ever lo- like me back? If I can't even beat him in a simple sparring match, how am I worthy?" Tenten shook her head violently, trying to stop tears of self pity and doubt trailing down her cheeks.

"Stop."

For a moment, Tenten was so shocked she just, stayed there, her mouth hanging open. That word, that one syllable could not have come from Hinata's lips.

"Don't doubt yourself Tenten-chan." Hinata smiled at her. "If you do that, your confidence will slowly crumble...and you'll end up like..like I was."

The two girls were interrupted from their conversation by a sharp knock on Hinata's bedroom door.

"C-come in."

_Speak of the devil_. Tenten thought wryly to herself. Neji had just entered the room.

"Hinata-sama, Tenten," He greeted them both. "Tenten, we have a mission from Hokage-sama."

Tenten leapt to her feet. "Now?"

"No, you are to report to her office tomorrow morning, at the usual training time."

Tenten nodded, excited at the prospect of a mission. There hadn't been many lately, as Konoha had been at peace. Her last challenging one had been over three weeks ago, when Shikamaru, Sakura, Shino, Neji and herself had been assigned a mission as a five man cell. She had fought against another weapons mistress, a rogue nin from the Waterfall Village, and won.

"Hai."

**Okay, so this chapter was basically a filler. I needed to update, but I couldn't get on with the central plotline just yet, so forgive me. As you can tell, I'm adding some major twists to the original's plotline. Anyway, next chapter they'll find out the mission. I'm thinking of sending them in a six man squad. If so who should accompany Team Gai? Leave a review and let me know .**


	6. Kimono

**Thanks to all of you who reviewed last chapter, I tried to keep you all happy by sending a mixture of people rather than just one team :-) Read and let me know what you think:**

Tenten stood in front of Tsunade's desk, glancing every so often at the five shinobi that would be accompanying her on the mission.

There was Neji to her left, and to her right stood Uzumaki Naruto, Hinata , Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba.

Tsunade surveyed the six shinobi before her , and cleared her throat, signaling the start of the briefing.

"Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Aya Tenten and Inuzuka Kiba. You are being assigned this A rank mission as a six man cell."

Tsunade paused, looking each of the six ninja up and down carefully, as if taking in every single detail. "The outcome of this mission is extremely important. As some of you may know, the Daiymo of Tea Country has recently passed away and his son,Naomi Shiro, is going to take over. However we have reason to believe that an underground gang of rogue nin are planning to usurp Naomi-sama's position, which ultimately could pose a threat to Konoha."

The six shinobi nodded.

"This squad is primarily a jonin one, however there are two chuunin among you. " Tsunade gestured to Tenten and Hinata. "Unfortunately neither could participate in last months Jonin exam due to an extended mission in Hoshigakure. I am certain that both would have passed, so on the condition that this mission is successful, I am willing to promote both Tenten-san and Hinata-san to Jonin."

Tenten's eyes widened. She could barely believe her luck. Tenten had been so infuriated at missing the last Jonin exam, and had resigned herself to six dull months of training, and training and even more training before she could complete and hopefully pass the exam.

Tenten gave a small smile, straining to keep her composure. "Thankyou Hokage-sama."

Hinata followed her lead. "Arigatou Hokage-sama"

Tsunade smiled at them both. "Now on with the details of the mission. Sasuke will be leader. This is not going to be easy by any accounts. Four of you are going to pose as two couples. The four will attend the annual Yume Ball at the Daiymo's residence in a three days time, under false identities, while the other two gather the late Daiymo's personal and financial documents from six months prior to his death, up until his death. I expect you back in eight days, I also expect a full report every two days."

" Which of us are the couples?" Naruto asked, with a painfully obvious glance at Hinata.

Tsunade sighed, letting them decide for themselves was out of the question, it would only lead to arguments within the group, and they didn't have time for petty squabbles. "Naruto, you and Hinata are to make one couple, while Kiba and Tenten the other. Neji and Sasuke are to get the records."

Tenten bit her lip. She had been hoping to go with Neji, however this was a mission, and it was extremely important that she kept her emotions out of the matter. Anyway, it wasn't like he would care.

"When do we leave?" questioned Sasuke.

" Today, 6pm" Was the Hokage's short reply.

The six shinobi took this as a dismissal, and began to leave.

"Once last thing before you go. " Tsunade's voice rang clear across her office. "Make sure you investigate, talk to the servants, keep your eyes and ears open. If any one of you has reason to believe your life or that of a comrade is in danger, do not keep it to yourself, no matter how insignificant it may seem."

* * *

Tenten mulled Tsunade's last words over in her head as she was packing a half hour later. What could she mean by that? This mission must be much more dangerous than it seemed if it was an A-Rank. It was also uncommon to mix chuunin and jonin, Tenten thought. 

She shook her head, she'd just have to be careful. She had never been one to back down from a challenge.

Tenten opened her wardrobe and began packing the last necessity. Her kimono. It was a must for a Daiymo's ball, she thought to herself. Tenten cherished the feeling of the expensive silk between her fingers. It had most definitely not come cheap. It was the newest memento of her parents, a sixteenth birthday present from them, two years ago. Her father had acquired it on a mission to Bird Country. That had been his last mission before he and her mother had died after being ambushed on their way back from a B rank mission.

Tenten sighed, zipped up her pack, slid a few senbon, shuriken and kunai into her weapons pouch, strapped her scroll to her back and headed out of the door.

Finally, some excitement.

**Okay so I decided against sending just one team, as people wanted different things. I wanted to send Sasuke as a rival for Neji snicker and Quite a few people wanted Naruto and Hinata and Kiba as well. Oh, if this chapter leave some confused, basically Hinata and Tenten missed the last jonin exam while they were on a six week misson to Hoshigakure. So everyone in the Rookie Nine and Team Gai are Jonin except for Hinata and Tenten, hopefully I made that clear haha...**

**Anyway read and review, the like... I should be updating pretty soon but I'm back at school tomorrow and we have mock sats so I'll be busy revising. **


	7. Adoration

**AN: Sorry for taking so long to update, I've been reading the Twilight trilogy by Stephanie Meyer. Very, very good...**

* * *

Tenten leaned nonchalantly against a tree, twirling a kunai around her index finger, and every so often tossing it into the air.

Four members besides Tenten had turned up so far, and now they were waiting on Naruto.

Naruto's apologies could be heard before the orange-clad ninja could be seen.

"Gomen! Gomen I'm late dattebayo!" Naruto crested the hill they were atop, and rushed to join his team mates.

Sasuke sighed in irritation. "Right, now the dobe is here I can begin the briefing. We'll travel through the forest, heading north towards Tea Country. We'll be staying at a hotel not too far from the daiymo's residence. the two couples will collect information, and Hyuuga-san and I will scout out the documents."

Tenten blinked. "That was a short briefing."

Sasuke glared.

"Ano - H-how do we get the information?" Hinata's soft voice came.

"You will visit different tourist attractions in the town, talk to people, see if they know anything. You must not blow your cover though. None of you must be ninja like in any way shape or form."

Hinata nodded.

"Any more questions?" Sasuke asked. "No? Okay then, lets go."

* * *

Night had fallen about three hours ago, Tenten estimated it to be around eleven pm. Neji had maintained a stony silence since the briefing, and any attempts she had made to draw him into conversation had been shot down with a brief "Hn". Tenten had resorted to talking with Kiba and Naruto. They had now set up camp and the three companions had been sent to collect water.

"So you like her?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"Uh...yeah...uh...I mean no...uh I...well..." Naruto stuttered and seemed to become extremely uncomfortable.

Tenten shook her head. Guys were useless with 'feelings and stuff' as Kiba had put it earlier. It had been obvious to most of the population that Hinata had a crush on Naruto, dating back to the academy days.

Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine , I admit it" Naruto cheeks burned. " I like Hyuuga Hinata. Happy now?"

Tenten grinned. Hinata would be elated when she found out. No matter how much she denied her crush on Naruto, it was obvious she adored him.

* * *

**Okay I'm so sorry I didn't update for ages, please forgive me XD Sorry for the shortness as well, I don't have much time to write but I promise I'll write in all my spare moments. Please read & review and I'll update faster.**

**Ja ne!**


	8. IMPORTANT!

**Okay, so this isn't a chapter. Sorry for dragging this story out and I thank everyone who reviewed and read. I'm still not happy with this fic even after the re-write so I'm posting a sort of alternate version to it.It has a fairly similar plot and its still going to be NejiTen, so if you feel like reading please do :) Its called Such Great Heights and it would be much appreciated if you checked it out and reviewed :)**

**I'm not going to delete this story, and I'll still update, but for the meantime I'm going to see how the alt. version goes. **

**ja ne**

**Dark-Compassion**


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